Textile and footwear products treated with sulfur

ABSTRACT

A composition for inhibiting noxious odors of a user&#39;s feet. The composition comprises elemental sulfur, preferably in a micronized state, applied to socks, stockings or any other textile or footwear product intended to come into direct or indirect contact with the article to be deodorized. In this manner, the active ingredient may be combined with other substances in an effort to achieve stable adherence to the support article and, thereby, assure a lasting release of the active ingredient over time, even after subsequent cleanings of the article.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the use of a substance capable ofcompletely eliminating the bad smell of the feet, in particular but notexclusively when applied to socks, stockings and footwear products. Ittherefore extends also to textile, footwear or sanitary products treatedwith said substance.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

It is well known that our feet can emanate bad smell when we take offour footwear, especially after it has been worn for an entire day. Thisphenomenon is even more perceptible when the used shoes are made ofrubber or, in any case, synthetic material that prevents transpiration.After a certain period of use, the shoe tends to become impregnated withthat smell and thus tends to become a bad-smell source of its own.

At present there does not exist any truly effective remedy for thisbothersome inconvenience. Indeed, the few products available on themarket today manage to procure only a slight attenuation of the badsmell, so that one cannot really appreciate any significant improvementderiving from the use of these products. The bad-smell problem of thefeet has therefore remained without a solution to this day.

Various studies carried out in this connection have shown that the badsmell emitted by the feet is due to a particular type of fungus, knownas Tinea pedis, that proliferates in anaerobic environments, finding inparticular an optimal habitat, at body temperature, in the intersticesbetween the third, fourth and fifth toe. In fact, this is the leastexposed and aired area of the feet, where it takes root and resists thehumidity deriving from both the sweating and the washing of the samefeet.

The degree of humidity, and consequently also the proliferation of thefungus and the bad smell to which it gives rise, obviously augments asthe sweating increases. The intensity of the sweating is bound up notonly with the individual predisposition, but obviously also the type ofshoe that is being worn. It is well known that sport shoes tend tohinder transpiration, and the particularly abundant sweating thatderives there from, together with the anaerobic environment and thetemperature conditions (equal to about 37° C., i.e. the bodytemperature), render the situation particularly favorable for theproliferation of Tinea pedis.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The applicant has now found out a fully effective solution of theproblems outlined above thanks to the identification of an activeprinciple capable of completely inhibiting the proliferation of thisfungus and therefore also of wholly eliminating the bad smell due to thesweating of the feet.

According to the invention, the substance capable of inhibiting the badsmell of the feet is constituted by elementary sulphur, preferably inthe micronized state. In this form it is preferably applied to socks,stockings or any other textile or footwear product intended to comeinto—direct or indirect—contact with the part that is to be deodorized.To this end the active principle is combined with other substances witha view to realizing a stable fixing to the support, assuring apersistent release of the active principle in the course of time, andthis even after a succession of washings.

Socks treated in the manner just described render the feet free of badsmell, even after a toilsome day during which use has been made of sportshoes. Experimental tests carried out on persons particularly prone tothis kind of problem, who for this purpose were made to wear treatedsocks, demonstrated the complete disappearance of the bad smell.Moreover, repeated washings of the socks did not bring out anyperceptible decay of the deodorizing properties. No allergicmanifestation of any kind to the detriment of the wearers were revealedby any of the tests.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will bebrought out more clearly by the following description of itsembodiments, which is given purely by way of example and is not to betaken as limitative in any way.

As already suggested above, the invention finds its most fruitfulpractical application—though not the only one—in the preparation of adeodorizing composition to be used for treating the article destined tocome into—direct or indirect—contact with the foot, and therefore socks,stockings, insoles, but also soles and uppers of shoes, in order toobtain footwear articles that do not acquire an unpleasant smell duringtheir use. In all these cases the treatment will preferably be carriedout by the producer of the article before it is brought into commerceand even, in the case of soles, uppers or other parts of shoes, beforeor during the actual manufacture of the shoe.

A simple example of a deodorizing composition for applying the activeprinciple to socks consists of an aqueous solution containing thefollowing:

-   -   0.2÷0.3 g/l of wettable elementary sulphur (active principle),        preferably micronized;    -   10÷20 g/l of resin, silicon resin for example;    -   10÷20 g/l of a cationic surfactant, a common fixative for dyes        for example;    -   2÷5 g/l of softener, a perfumed Henkel® softener for example.

The socks to be treated are immersed for a few minutes in the bathprepared in this manner, which is brought to a temperature of about 40°C. when a fibrous material containing wool is involved, or to about 90°C. in the case of other materials. The treatment time and temperature,but also the formulation of the composition, may however be variedaccording to the particular machine employed. The indications providedabove are considered to be optimal in the case of treatment with, forexample, a centrifugal washing machine. The treatment is completed witha brief phase of rinsing, drying and centrifuging, this once again at atemperature that may be varied according to the type of textile fiber.Moreover, the aqueous bath may be replaced by a phase in which thecomposition is sprayed directly onto the articles by means of ejectiondevices of a known type.

Alternatively, the active principle may also be applied prior to theactual manufacturing of the articles of clothing, i.e. to the fabricsfrom which these articles are to be made. This can be done, for example,in a continuous operating modality by carrying out the impregnation in afoulard machine with a bath containing 5÷10 g/l of the active principlein emulsified form with a non-ionic surfactant, 3÷5 g/l of emulsifiedacrylic resin, in a pH made slightly acid by means of acetic acid (pH=5)in case of wool-based fabrics, or in a neutral pH in case of fabricswith a cellulose base. Following wringing, the fabric is dried in a“Rameuse” machine at a temperature of at least about 150° C., which isnecessary to assure the polymerization of the acrylic resin.

In the compositions suggested above the resin obviously has thefundamental function of fixing the active principle to the textilefiber, holding the principle and thus making it resistant to subsequentwashings. Being in the micronized state, the sulphur is released veryslowly, thus assuring its deodorizing action in the course of time.Neither the silicon resin nor the acrylic resin causes any appreciablealteration of the softness characteristics of the fiber and they aretherefore particularly suitable for this purpose. Other types of resinsmay however be used—resins with a butadiene base being a case inpoint—even combined in appropriate proportions.

In case of materials with a woolen base it is preferable to use resinscapable of being polymerized at low temperatures, like those withradical-type polymerization mechanisms. In any case, the softener mayserve to attenuate a possible stiffening effect deriving from thepresence of the resin. The surfactant obviously contributes toincreasing the fixing power of the sulphur to the fibrous material.

Application to textile fibers, for example and typically in accordancewith the modalities described above, represents a particularlyadvantageous reduction to practice of the invention, because it assuresan optimal effectiveness of the deodorizing action without in any wayaltering either the appearance or the original softness of thesupporting materials, which will also remain wholly free of smell.However, this application can be carried out with various modalities,especially in accordance with the variations of the material for whichit is intended and therefore also of the machines that are employed. Forexample, the latter could include the so-called “Dutch machines”, wherethe movement of the bath is more gentle and thus avoids the physicalalteration of materials made of wool fibers.

As already mentioned, another possible advantageous use of the inventionenvisages the application of a sulphur-based composition directly toshoes, in particular by treating in accordance with one of theabove-described modalities the textile lining of an insole intended tocome into contact with the foot. Either alternatively or in additionthereto, the elementary sulphur could be mixed with the glue employedfor fixing the textile lining to the base material (generally apolyurethane) of the insole.

In the generically sanitary field, a deodorizing cream for local use canbe obtained by amalgamating the elementary sulphur, or a substance withan elementary sulphur base, with vaseline or lanoline in proportionsappropriate for obtaining the required density and homogeneity.According to a typical composition, for example, about 3% by weight ofelementary sulphur will be mixed with vaseline and lanoline in equalpercentages. Deodorizing properties can also be conferred upon swathingstrips and elastic bandages in accordance with one of theabove-described methods for fixing the active principle to textilematerials.

In any case, the specific application procedures underlying thepreferred embodiments must not be understood as characteristics thatlimit the invention. In its most general expression, indeed, theinvention resides in having identified an active principle capable ofinhibiting the proliferation of the fungus that generates the bad smellof the feet, eliminating it completely even when the feet remainenclosed in shoes for the whole of a day, without any undesired effectsfor the wearer as far as intolerance or allergic reactions areconcerned. It should also be noted that the active principle inquestion, apart from being inert, does not interact with the sebaceoussecretion and is therefore absolutely tolerable from a hygienic andsanitary point of view.

The protective scope of the present invention thus comprises any use ofelementary sulphur for the deodorization of the feet, while variantsand/or modifications can be brought to the procedures of its applicationto such textile products as yarns, cloths of various compositions,stocking, socks and the like, footwear products, as also in the sanitarysector, without thereby departing from the said scope.

1. A method for treatment or, partially or wholly, impregnation of atextile and/or footwear product to be worn on, or associated with, auser's foot with an active deodorizing ingredient comprising elementalsulphur or a compound capable of liberating elemental sulphur, whereinthe product is treated or impregnated with a composition comprising, inaddition to the active ingredient, a polymeric binder for providingstable adherence of the active ingredient to the product and gradualrelease therefrom over time.
 2. The method set forth in claim 1, whereinthe polymeric binder is a selected acrylic, silicone, butadiene orpolyurethane resin, the active ingredient and the resin beingdistributed in a non-aqueous composition with which the product isapplied or impregnated.
 3. The method set forth in claim 1, wherein thepolymeric binder is a selected acrylic, silicone, butadiene orpolyurethane resin, the active ingredient and the resin beingdistributed in an aqueous bath in which the product is immersed.
 4. Themethod set forth in claim 3, wherein the active ingredient in theaqueous bath has a concentration between about 0.3 and about 1.0 g/l,the resin being a selected silicon resin and having a concentrationbetween about 10 and about 20 g/l, the aqueous bath further comprising aselected cationic surfactant and a selected softener havingconcentrations of between about 10 and about 20 g/l and about 2 andabout 5 g/l, respectively.
 5. The method set forth in claim 4, whereinthe aqueous bath is brought to a temperature of at least about 40° C. 6.The method set forth in claim 3, wherein the active ingredient has aconcentration between about 5 and about 10 g/l and is emulsified with anon-ionic surfactant, the resin being a selected emulsified acrylicresin and having a concentration between about 3 and about 5 g/l, thebath, in the case of a wool-based product, having a pH at least slightlyacidic using acetic acid or, in the case of a product with a cellulosebase, a relatively neutral pH.
 7. The method set forth in claim 6,wherein the textile product, subsequent to immersion in the bath, iswrung and dried at a temperature of at least about 150° C. in order topolymerize the acrylic resin.
 8. The method set forth in claim 1,wherein the polymeric binder is a selected adhesive utilized forassembling a shoe or a part thereof.
 9. The method set forth in claim 1,wherein the active ingredient is a selected wettable micronized sulphur.10. A composition for partially or integrally treating a textile and/orfootwear product to be worn on, or associated with, a user's foot, thecomposition making use of an active deodorizing ingredient comprisingelemental sulphur or a compound capable of liberating elemental sulphur,wherein the product comprises, in addition to the active ingredient, aselected polymeric binder for providing stable adherence of the activeingredient on the product and gradual release therefrom over time. 11.The composition set forth in claim 10, wherein the polymeric binder is aselected acrylic, silicone, butadiene or polyurethane resin, the activeingredient and the resin being distributed in an aqueous bath in whichthe product is immersed.
 12. The composition set forth in claim 11,wherein the active ingredient has a concentration between about 0.3 andabout 1.0 g/l, the resin being a selected silicon resin and having aconcentration between about 10 and about 20 g/l, the aqueous bathfurther comprising a selected cationic surfactant and a selectedsoftener having concentrations of between about 10 and about 20 g/l andabout 2 and about 5 g/l, respectively.
 13. The composition set forth inclaim 11, wherein the active ingredient has a concentration betweenabout 5 and about 10 g/l and is emulsified with a selected non-ionicsurfactant, the resin being a selected emulsified acrylic resin andhaving a concentration between about 3 and about 5 g/l, the bath, in thecase of a wool-based product, having a pH at least slightly acidic usingacetic acid or, in the case of a product with a cellulose base, arelatively neutral pH.
 14. The composition set forth in claim 10,wherein the active ingredient is a selected wettable micronized sulphur.15. A textile and/or footwear product integrally or partiallyimpregnated or treated with a composition having an active deodorizingingredient which comprises elemental sulphur or a compound capable ofliberating elemental sulphur, wherein the product is treated orimpregnated with a composition comprising, in addition to the activeingredient, a selected polymeric binder for providing stable adherenceof the active ingredient to the product and gradual release therefromover time. 16-19. (canceled)